How much would it cost you to leave your door cracked open all winter? You may not realize it, 
but YOUR CHIMNEY’S DAMPER is probably costing you $200-$300 dollars each year!! Have you noticed that its often noticeably colder in the room where your fireplace is? Whether you are having a fire or not, your chimney is constantly drawing warm air into the fireplace and expelling it to the outside…warm air that you paid for!! How would you like to finally “close the door” on this wasteful heat loss for good and eliminate the cold draft around the fireplace? With a top sealing damper, your existing inefficient damper is bypassed, and an air tight seal is formed at the very top of the chimney. Additionally, top sealing dampers are easier to operate than your existing damper. No more bending over with the flash light looking for the damper handle!! The top sealing damper’s handle is mounted right in the fireplace easy to see and easy to reach! Top Sealing Dampers are also the best choice when your chimney’s existing damper is frozen (rusted) open or shut. Tell your chimney sweep that you’re ready to “close the Door” on cold drafts, expensive heating bills and difficult to operate dampers by purchasing your top sealing damper today!

Damper with a Hole Rusted Through

On most masonry chimneys, there is a “Crown” on the very top, and a pair of “Shoulders” where the chimney flares out. Like your home’s roof, these Horizontal surfaces are designed to keep harmful rain water from penetrating down into the brickwork of your chimney. Because these horizontal surfaces are totally exposed to all the elements (sun, rain, heat, cold), they generally begin to crack and develop leaks in short order. If your crown and/or shoulders are cracked and weathered, your chimney is suffering more than you know! Every time it rains, water seeps down into the top 3-5 layers of brick which causes the mortar to pre-maturely become soft, thus allowing the bricks to become loose. If repairs to the crown and shoulder aren’t made, you chimney’s brickwork will eventually loosen and you’ll likely need to have the top several layers of your chimney re-built. Such repairs are often $1000-$2000! When it comes to your chimney’s Crown and Shoulders, an ounce of prevention is BETTER than a pound of cure!! Avoid EXPENSIVE REPAIRS by having your crown and shoulders re-surfaced with Crown seal. Crown seal is a fireproof, waterproof, and permanently flexible membrane engineered for chimneys. With a 10 year warranty, Crown seal will keep the water OUT of your chimney and keep more of your money IN your pocket!

If your chimney’s crown and/or shoulders are damaged too badly to be sealed with Crown Seal, than a complete Tear-Off and Re-Build of the affected areas will be necessary. Unlike the masons and other chimney companies, A to Z does not re-pour a new crown using regular mortar (which will quickly deteriorate again). Instead, we use CrownSaver, a blend of polymer modified hydraulic cements, powder based water repellent, and fiber reinforced Portland cement which is specifically engineered for the harsh environments chimneys are subject to. Because this engineered cement also has waterproofing agents, you’ll notice that after it is cured, water will bead up and be shed rather than being absorbed into the masonry. Crown rebuilding at it’s finest, Crown Saver crown and shoulder cement is the pinnacle of doing the job right the first time!

Rear Access Doors are most often installed when a chimney needs to have repairs made to the smoke chamber area. Normally inaccessible, the smoke chamber can be accessed for repair once a hole is neatly cut into the back of the chimney. After the repairs are completed, a cast iron rear access door is installed in order to allow easy access for future cleanings.